Victor Martinez Cracks 3 HR, J.D. Martinez Cracks His Elbow

The Detroit Tigers' Victor Martinez connects on his third home run of the game, in th
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The Detroit Tigers lost one power-hitting Martinez Thursday night. But another power-hitting Martinez more than made up for it.

Victor Martinez hit three of Detroit’s six home runs to lead the Tigers over the Kansas City Royals. The switch-hitting DH homered to left from the right side of plate in the second, to the left-center power alley as a righty again in the fourth, and to right in a southpaw stance in the ninth to make it a 10-4 victory. Nick Castellanos, Miguel Cabrera, and James McCann also hit long balls for Detroit, setting a Tigers team record for homers at Kauffman Stadium.

J.D. Martinez fractured a bone in his left elbow after chasing after a ball on the fair side of the foul pole in right field in the second. Paulo Orlando tripled on the play. Martinez weekly threw the ball to the cutoff man after the injury, stopping a possible inside-the-park home run, and shortly thereafter walked off the field in pain. The disabled list looks likely.

Justin Verlander secured the win to improve to 7-5. Reliever Luke Hochevar got tagged with the loss after getting tagged with three in the seventh.

Victor Martinez’s trifecta of round trippers marks the second such feat of his career. The 37-year-old also sent three balls over the fence for the Cleveland Indians in 2004.

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